December 26, 2017: Jerusalem and the nations

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Jerusalem and the nations
Yes, there are definitely two sets of rules for the UN and the General Assembly which guide their responses. Turkey and Cyprus – never was their business. Russia and the Ukraine – ditto. Spain and Catalonia – ditto. England and Northern Ireland – ditto. China and Tibet – ditto. Then America acknowledges Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and, hey, guess what? The UN General Assembly wakes up and, presto, a huge veto against this (“128 nations declare US J’lem decision null and void,” December 22).

Antisemitism is alive and kicking. However, this time let’s show them that we do not care. Jerusalem is our capital for all time.
LINDA HIRSCH
Netanya

It is interesting to note that Hungary, Croatia, Latvia, Romania and the Czech Republic abstained. How come? Why did only these Eastern European countries abstain from voting against US President Donald Trump for having the courage to say that two plus two equals four by recognizing that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and stopping the appeasement of Islam?

Douglas Murray, in his book The Strange Death of Europe, explains why Eastern Europe is different, by quoting Chantal Delsol: “‘I later became convinced that it was in these Eastern European societies that I should seek some answers to our questions... the divergences between us and them led me to the belief that the last 50 years of good fortune had entirely erased our sense of the tragic dimension of life.’ That tragic dimension of life,” writes Murray, “had not been erased in the East. And nowhere have the consequences of this been more clearly displayed than in the attitudes of Eastern Europe’s leaders, with the support of their publics, to the migration crisis.” Now this divergence has been confirmed in the UN General Assembly vote.

MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC
Beersheba

The recent UN vote on moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem is evidence of the fact that there is just as much antisemitism at the UN now as there was in 1975, when they voted that “Zionism is a form of racism.” US President Donald Trump is correct to decrease our support of this worthless organization.

However, it is more important that Jews everywhere realize that we still have no friends other than the current US administration, and we have to unite in spite of our many religious differences – Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.

JEROME S. REICH
Miami

So, wouldn’t General Edmund Allenby`s descendants be proud of him, knowing that, to mark the 100th anniversary of freeing Jerusalem from Ottoman rule, the United Kingdom just voted with the Turkish government, denying the United States the right to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Simply remarkable.

Not to be outdone, the French, obviously not having visited the vast US cemeteries along the Normandy shores in a while, also thumbed their French noses at the US. For Italy and the pope, a Jewish Jerusalem is obviously just too much. After all, we did fall into disrepute with the Creator. And for the Germans, come on, Untermenschen having their government seat in Jerusalem, how ridiculous can the US get?

For us, the Jewish people, as it was foretold thousands of years ago, “it is a people that dwells alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” and as such is invincible and imperishable. Welcome to the real world. Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. As the Jewish composer Irving Berlin wrote in his beautiful lyrics, “God bless America” for being America and for its support, and God bless the State of Israel.

ELIAS HERSCHMANN
Miami Beach

Ambassador Danny Danon (in the photo on the front page of Friday’s paper) is speaking on the UN podium and showing an ancient Jewish coin on which is written in Hebrew “For the freedom of Zion,” and he explains that this proves our connection to Jerusalem. With all due respect to the delegates,very few know that Zion and Jerusalem are synonymous.

In the same year, 67 CE, was also minted a coin by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem on which is inscribed in Hebrew “Jerusalem the holy.” Had he used that coin, how much more dramatic it would have been!

CYRIL GLASMAN
Haifa

Is it not very odd that Prime Minister Theresa May knows that matters affecting the Polish Constitution are for the Polish government to determine, not the European Commission (“Britain’s ‘Madame Brexit’ tells Poland: Your constitution is your own matter,” December 22), but when it comes to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, she fails to understand that it is none of her business to criticize the American president and participate in any critical votes at the UN on the matter?

Is this the price she was required to pay to secure a lucrative fighter plane contract from Qatar for British-made planes?
PETER SIMPSON
Jerusalem

When US President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, I think he could have decreed to upgrade the US Consulate in Jerusalem to be the new US Embassy (and downgrade the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to a consulate). He could still do it now. Instead of planning the construction of a new building, just make the move official by declaring the upgrade. The staff and work would shift from Tel Aviv. And then it would be official, the US would have an embassy in Jerusalem.

AIDIL RIZALI
Jakarta

The real corruption
Having read “Is Netanyahu corrupt?” (Editor’s Notes, December 22), I wonder why the public and the media do not concentrate on the real corruption that affects all Israelis on a daily basis. I refer to the strength of the bureaucrats and the trade unions who run and influence our daily lives to the detriment of all.

In Israel, if one wants to erect a building, it takes three years or more to get all the building permits. Our prime minister has railed against this expensive waste of time and demanded that it should not take more than six months, as in most developed countries. Who won? The bureaucrats, who get well paid for doing their work slowly and who thumb their noses to the public.

In my town, Rehovot, Ahad Ha’am Street needed to be repaved. After six months, half the job has been done. Why? The powers that be don’t care. Four people were generally on the job, five days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This inadequate workforce also worked at a snail’s pace. The citizens have to deal with the traffic snarlups. Where is the anger?

Teachers go on strike, airport workers go on strike, hospitals go on strike, because they have the power of the monopoly of the labor supply and their trade unions back them up.

These examples are the corruption that affects our lives. Yet the media is obsessed with a few dozen gifted cigars that do not affect the lives of a single citizen.

Where is the balance? Where is our common sense?

DUNN RABINOWITZ
Rehovot

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